Viduka doesn't envy boss

22 December 2006 01:34

Middlesbrough striker Mark Viduka has revealed he doesn't envy former team-mate and now Riverside boss Gareth Southgate.
Last season the pair were team-mates as Boro went all the way to the UEFA Cup final under former manager Steve McClaren.
Southgate replaced the now England head coach in the summer but, although impressing Viduka with the transition from player to manager, the Australia international wouldn't like to be in the current manager's shoes with the Teessiders currently struggling just above the Premiership drop zone.
"It is not an easy job being a manager. I have been playing football for a long time and I think it would be very difficult if somebody told me next year I was manager," he said.
"In that position, I would not know what to do. But Gareth has taken to it very well. He is going to be a good manager.
"After playing football for so long and being through all the ups and downs, you start learning how to deal with these things.
"It is probably different being a manager because once the players go across that line, there is nothing much you can do, apart from half-time talks and whatever.
"But he is coping quite well and a few results over Christmas - if we can get a string of wins together - we could come into the new year in a great position."